‘YOUTH and crabbed age
Cannot live together;’
So they say.
On this little page
See you when and whether
That they may.
Age was very old—
Stones from Chichimec
Hardly wrung;
Youth had hair of gold
Knotted on her neck—
Fair and young!
Age was carved with odd
Slaves, and priests that slew them—
God and Beast;
Man and Beast and God—
There she sat and drew them,
King and Priest!
There she sat and drew
Many a monstrous head
And antique;
Horrors from Peru,
Huacas doubly dead,
Dead cacique!
Ere Pizarro came
These were lords of men
Long ago;
Gods without a name,
Born or how or when,
None may know!
Now from Yucatan
These doth Science bear
Over seas;
And methinks a man
Finds youth doubly fair,
Sketching these!